


Silent Night

by Melody_Of_The_River



Series: Seeing Voices [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Deaf Character, Deaf Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Fluff, M/M, Mute Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-10-05 01:10:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17315246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melody_Of_The_River/pseuds/Melody_Of_The_River
Summary: Erwin does something uncharacteristic of him, but ends up being gladder for it.





	Silent Night

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little drabble I wrote for the New Year! Happy 2019, everybody :)  
> The parts in italics are what the characters sign, and the non-italics dialogue is what they speak.

Erwin isn’t too chatty on the train on winter days.

It’s too cold, and he knows that if he decides to exchange chit-chat with any of his fellow commuters, he will eventually have to remove his hands from where they are pressed tightly between his armpits to shake hands with them. And that is just something he really would like to avoid, when it’s -10 degrees outside, and he hasn’t seen the sun in two weeks. What would he even say, anyway? “Oh, I wonder what the weather will be like”? It will be shitty, that’s what it'll be like; the kind of weather where the chill settles so deeply into his bones that it refuses to leave even when he sits by a warm fireplace for hours. It’s the kind of weather where as soon as he gets off the train, no matter how many layers he’s wearing or how high his boots are, the snow will still find a way to seep in, wetting his socks, so that his feet remain perpetually frozen throughout the rest of the day. The kind of weather where he will spend the next eight hours at work wistfully typing away at the cold keys of his keyboard (though his fingers may as well have lost all feeling by now), regretting how he forgot to bring his pair of finger-less gloves, and reminiscing over how he took summer days for granted.

It is no surprise, then, that he likes to take his daily commute, to and from work, in relative silence. He has no doubt that others in the train would likewise prefer it that way. It’s too much of a hassle, and it’s just too damned cold for that.

That is not to say that he doesn’t make exceptions, once in a while.

 

He had caught his eye on the train one day, sitting quietly two seats across from him. He was fidgeting with some map on his phone and Erwin had, quite uncharacteristically, offered to help him with his route, discovering that the man’s destination was not much different than his. The man, dark-haired and with sharp, aquiline features, had only nodded in a _thank you_ before retreating back to his cold chair. And when the train had stopped, they had both exited through different doors, and taken different routes to the city.

 

It wasn’t until two days later that he had seen that man again. Not on the train but at his boss’s office. The man’s lips remained pursed, and he only nodded in agreement to whatever Pixis was saying.

Later, Erwin had nudged Mike as he got his coffee from the breakroom, pointed to the short brunette, and asked him what his deal was.

“He’s deaf,” Mike had answered, as if it was common knowledge. Erwin had cursed under his breath, reprimanding himself for bad-mouthing the man behind his back, and had asked Mike his name.

“Oh that,” he said, “It’s Levi. “

 

_Levi._

Three weeks passed like that, with quiet meetings on the train, bumping into each other in the lobby, and not meeting each other’s eyes in the elevator. And in that time, Erwin had illegally downloaded two courses to learn American Sign Language.

He practiced it in his office, on the train when Levi was not with him (he left work much earlier than Erwin did), and after work on his home computer. He paced around his apartment till midnight, practicing the phrases with his hand gestures, saying them out loud as he did. He didn’t exactly know why he was even putting in the effort; he was sure he was not interested in Levi romantically.

No, it was more complicated than that, he convinced himself. Or rather, it wasn’t very complicated at all. He just wanted to be able to talk to Levi, that’s all. It was a simple desire, unmotivated by lust. He wanted Levi to be able to hear him, and if this was the only language he understood, then Erwin could learn to speak it.

It took a while, though. He started off learning simple phrases (“ _Hi, my name is Erwin. Nice to meet you_ ,” and “ _How was your day?”)_ as one would at the start of learning any language. He repeated the gestures ten, fifteen, twenty times, every day, until he was satisfied that he wouldn’t forget them. By the end of the three weeks, and just in time for the New Year’s celebration at his office, Erwin felt proud that he had, what he now considers, a second-grader’s grasp on the language.

 

At the party, he had found Levi standing alone near one of the bowls of fruit punch, silently drinking away his glass of the, regretfully, non-alcoholic beverage. The rest of their colleagues were either in the breakroom talking, or had already left for their homes. Levi’s eyes wore the same bored expression they had the last few times he had met him.

Erwin, feeling uncharacteristically brave that day (for Levi often made him do things uncharacteristic of him), approached him.

He still remembers how dumbfounded Levi had been when Erwin had _signed_ ‘hello’ instead of saying it. Their first conversation had not been a long one; Erwin still didn’t know sufficient sign language for that. Levi had whipped his phone out after Erwin found himself lost in the conversation after a few lines of dialogue and typed his responses into it. Erwin had asked him if he was good at lip-reading (he was) and if he was enjoying the party (he wasn’t).

After maybe half of an hour of half-written, half-signed, and half-spoken conversation, there was a commotion in the breakroom at the other end of the hallway, and Erwin had glanced down at his watch. A minute and fifty seconds to midnight. He heard Levi typing next to him.

“ _You know it’s good luck to kiss someone at midnight,”_ he showed him the screen.

“ _I am aware, yes_ ,” Erwin signed, unable to keep the smile from his voice or his gestures.

The minute had passed like that, both of them sneaking glances at each other, passing coy smiles, and refilling Levi’s glass of punch. When the countdown started, they had begun to head back to join the rest of the party. And at midnight when the hall erupted in cheers, and hoots, and screams, and outside the building, the fireworks were loud enough to be deafening, Erwin had felt a silent force tug him down and press a soft kiss to his lips.

It was over before he could even register it, and Levi’s small form was already turning. He waved behind him, a quiet “ _See you tomorrow,_ ” that kept Erwin warm and smiling all the way back home.

 

He had seen him again, in the train the next morning. 7:30 am and his eyes hurt, his mind protesting at the lack of sleep.

But he saw Levi sitting at his usual spot and, uncharacteristically for Erwin (for Levi always made him do things uncharacteristic of him), Erwin took a place beside him, even when the rest of the chairs were completely empty: the people who had been lucky enough to have gotten a longer winter vacation than them.

He sat down, and Levi turned to eye him questioningly. Erwin cleared his throat, and signed something he had practiced for hours the night before:

“ _Would you like to skip work today?_ ”

Levi’s eyebrows moved further up his forehead in a clear, _“Why?_ ”

“Um…” he fumbled, his practice being of almost no use then, “I was wondering… maybe we could get coffee?”

Levi rolled his eyes, and shrugged his shoulders.

“ _Fine. Whatever.”_


End file.
